Mubahila and Soft Power
This is according to an article titled “Mubahila and Soft War” published by Iraqi news agency Buratha on the occasion of Eid al-Mubahila or Event of Mubahila.
Eid al-Mubahila celebrates the famous event in the year 10 AH when a party of Christians, led by the Bishop of Najran called Abdul Masih (or Abu Harisa), decided to debate with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) about the nature of Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him).
It came after they received a letter from the Holy Prophet inviting them to be Muslims, and meeting and debating amongst themselves about the contents of the letter and the appropriate response.
On the day they had agreed upon earlier, they refused to do Mubahala since they saw that the Prophet (PBUH) came with closest members of his family, who were his daughter, Fatima al-Zahra (SA), his son-in-law, Imam Ali (AS), his grandsons, Hassan (AS) and Hussein (AS), and thus Christians understood his truthfulness. This way the Prophet (PBUH) became victorious in this event.
Here are excerpts from the article published by Buratha:
Mubahila comes from the word Bahl, which means abandoning and ignoring something.
The Christian figures who attended the Mubahila and saw the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his family said to themselves that if these people asked God to destroy mountains, God would certainly grant their prayers.
That is why they decided not to do Mubahila with the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
After that, the Verse of Mubahila was revealed: “Those who dispute with you concerning him after the knowledge has come to you, say: ‘Come, let us gather our sons and your sons, our womenfolk and your womenfolk, ourselves and yourselves. Then let us humbly pray, so lay the curse of Allah upon the ones who lie.’”
There are many lessons one can learn from this event, apart from the virtues of Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS).
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If we study this event carefully, we would realize that soft power can be used based on dialogue in order to achieve victory over extremists. This has two aspects: First, exposing the extremists via logic and reason and second, preventing the spread of their activities.
What the Holy Prophet (PBUH) used in the event of Mubahila against the Christians of Najran was what is known today as soft power, based on the following: 1- Dialogue and reasoning, 2-presenting indisputable evidence, 3- Proper use of throwing the ball into the opponent’s court, and 4- Avoiding any violence, insult and provocation.
Therefor, Mubahila is inviting to dialogue, peace, concession and emphasis on the superiority of soft power among all religions and faiths.
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